John Carter lightly transported itself into theaters this past weekend, securing a relatively meager $30m opening domestically, though it managed to secure another $70m internationally. While I will eventually make a defense of the economics at play here, it is hard to argue that John Carter isn’t a domestic failure, considering it came in second to The Lorax, which debuted a full week earlier. On top of that, John Carter has a suspected $250m budget with marketing costs guestimated in the $100m range, for a total investment of around $350m. The critics have been somewhat kind to the civil war veteran’s debut – while the average review seems to be “it’s alright,” there have certainly been some hyperbolic highs and very few hyperbolic lows. Consensus is you’ll probably think the movie is okay, but you might want to wait for DVD. Scattered among those are bold claims that film will live on with your children as a classic, which are probably a bit off the reservation. There is little doubt that in at least several ways John Carter failed, ways that were easily avoidable and ways that make me fairly angry with the system.

Giving movies limited theatrical runs alongside a day-and-date Video On Demand release is becoming more and more popular in our current landscape of digital media. We’ve never seen a big movie that has high hopes of pulling in huge box office dollars take the risk, but it seems like a strategy that’s been working out well for smaller budget arthouse and genre films. The latest movie to make such a deal is probably the one with the most star power to ever take the VOD plunge. Deadline Peekskill is reporting that Mel Gibson’s upcoming Get the Gringo (formerly known as How I Spent My Summer Vacation), a Mexico-set action film that he both stars in and financed through his Icon Productions, has signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and DirecTV for its release and promotion. This deal is unique in that the movie will be available exclusively on DirecTV for a period, with wider VOD options coming later in the year. The film is set to hit DirecTV customers on May 1, the same day that it will be screening in at least 10 markets alongside a Gibson Q&A taking place in an Austin theater.

I’ll make no bones about the film being clearly targeted to women (and a specific market of women at that).

But make sure you eat all your vegetables and get to bed early.

The San Diego Comic-Con is many things. A haven for geeks, a place for gawking at nearly naked women, playing video games, buying memorabilia, and a great place to market your goods. Generally with the help of a nearly naked woman.

It’s one month until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hits theaters, and we’re already under an invasion of billboards… including this batch of six IN A ROW on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles. What’s next?!

You may or may not remember these, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t awesome.

Finally, a video to support my previously held theories about Michael Bay…

11 days until the release of Cloverfield, the mysterious monster movie from producer J.J. Abrams, and the news just keeps on coming.

The monster destroys more than just New York. We also find out why Rob is headed to Japan…

As we anxiously await the online debut of the Dark Knight trailer, we get a two new posters that we are supposed to see, and something else that wasn’t meant to be online yet…

Yesterday it was Batman from behind… Today it’s Heath Ledger.

Our good friends at /Film have us really doubting that J.J. Abrams is telling the whole truth…

The buzz around Cloverfield is growing. How about a Japanese soft drink commercial to help promote the flick.